Another Voice

"Another Voice" is a place where POMA members can voice their opinions on a topic of their choosing. Any and all POMA members are welcome to write for this column so if you have a topic you wish to write about, submissions can be sent to [email protected]. Please write "Another Voice" in the subject line.

*The opinions expressed in this column are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the view of the POMA. You may respond to this article with your opinion by e-mailing [email protected], or mail your response to the POMA Newsletter in care of the POMA Central Office, 1330 Eisenhower Boulevard, Harrisburg, PA 17111-2395.


 

Carolina Moon

Written by: Samuel J. Garloff, DO
March 18, 2022

I read and reread the editorials by our association president Dr. J. Zawisza (President’s Perspective) and CEO Diana Ewert (Executive Opinion) distributed 2/18/2022. The first reading was completed while I was in my “right brain”, the second whilst I was in my “left brain”. Both authors are to be congratulated as my better 9/10ths would be quick to tell you that “no brain” is my default setting.

That being said, one reaction was “Right On”, the other was along the lines of “Show Me the Money”. This is the difficulty I sometimes experience when attempting to combine both halves of my brain. Perhaps you are familiar with the process. Osteapathy? Complacency? In the words of the late Walter Winchell, “let’s go to press”.

What if I told you that I was going to lecture about an artist who at the age of 24 was accused of sodomy with a model in his mentor’s studio? What if I added that at age 26 instead of living off the profits of commissioned works, he instead took a job designing weapons for a living? Lastly, what if I added that at age 38, while single, he adopted a 10 y/o boy to “teach him”? Would you attend the lecture?

Who was the artist? Leonardo da Vinci.

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Today is Veterans Day

Written by: Samuel J. Garloff, DO
November 11, 2021 

When I was quite young, I asked my father what he and his fellow soldiers during WWII thought of the men who didn’t serve. I will never forget his response. “We thought they were lucky”. Knowing this was the feeling of a wartime veteran, sent home at the end of the war with shrapnel embedded in his left tibia as well as a case of untreated malaria, his words had a profound effect. “We thought they were lucky”. After that exchange, I never thought twice about military service. You got drafted or you were “lucky”.

I was “lucky”. Then I did the unimaginable. I volunteered to serve in the Army. It made sense. I would serve and they would put me through medical school. I felt “lucky”. During my eight years of active duty service, I had experiences practicing medicine I never would have had as a civilian. I was exposed to illnesses and traumas I could have never imagined. The air-evac plane would land at Andrews Air Force Base and patients from the world over arrived at Walter Reed and be assigned to me at random. The maladies we were taught would be seen once in a lifetime or less, were routine. I ordered tests that I had never heard of and honestly now are impossible for me to remember.

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Happy New Year

Written by: Samuel J. Garloff, DO
January 10, 2019 

Happy New Year

In 1922 Robert Frost wrote "Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening." On January 1, 2019, it entered the public domain. The first stanza is below:

   "Whose woods these are I think I know.
    His house is in the village though;
    He will not see me stopping here
    To watch his woods fill up with snow."

Pennsylvania is my home.  My wife and I grew up in and around Erie.  In my youth, I thoroughly enjoyed the twin tiers.  We would, when possible, travel Route 6 across the state making stops in “God’s country” aka Potter County.  Having lunch at the Potato City Inn in Galeton in a lovely memory. Dinner at Hotel Crittenden in Coudersport was lovely also.

Potter County is also home to Ulysses, Pennsylvania.  Population 650.  Ulysses hosted the world Aryan Congress in the mid-2000s.  This was a conclave of neo-Nazis, skinheads and KKK members.  Before the 2016 presidential election, the KKK established a 24-hour hotline and sent goodie bags with lollipops and flyers to hundreds of homes.  A regional newspaper ran an advertisement stating “God bless the KKK”.  Two weeks later, the National Socialist Movement and Aryan Strikeforce held a white unity meeting in Ulysses.

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Up-and-Down, Up-and-Down, I Will Lead Them Up and Down

Written by: Samuel Garloff, DO
June 6, 2018 

Today is June 6, 2018. According to the Department of Justice and Department of Defense, more children have been killed in school this year than military members in combat. In fact, more students have been killed in school so far this year, than all military personnel who died from all causes.

On February 14, 1929, seven members of the "Bugs" Moran gang were murdered in a warehouse on N. Clark St. in Chicago, Illinois. "Bugs" ran an Irish gang in North Chicago. The south side was controlled by Al Capone and his Italian gang. Millions of dollars were being made distributing liquor, running speakeasies, and providing gambling dens and prostitution. No love was lost between Bugs and Scarface.

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